RETURN OF THE ALL TIME JAM

Yikes! It's the middle of summer and I still haven't posted "Uptown Top Ranking"! If you've been around here long enough you know. As happens every year, I have a contented moment made possible by nice weather, a warm ocean and chance meetings with locals on my way to and from the beach. Per usual, I gush about it. This jam nails the mood, not lyrically, just in the vibe, It's by Althea and Donna and if you've been listening to reggae a long time you might remember when it appeared in 1978. It went to #1 in the UK, didn't do shit in the states. Me and my friends ate it up.

The riddim comes from Alton Ellis's "I;m Still In Love With You". Althea and Donna's "Uptown Top Ranking" was by no means the only record to use it. Here's a couple others. And if you're already familiar with all of these, dig this exercise. Try syncing Ellis's with Althea and Donna's, opening them in separate windows and pausing one if needed. Then fuck with the volume in each window. When they do sync well you can strut around like some two bit King Tubby,

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Listen:
Althea and Donna - Uptown Top Ranking mp3 at Tumblr
Alton Ellis - I'm Still In Love With You mp3 at Stop Okay Go
Mighty Two - Calico Suit (streaming) at YouTube
Trinity - Three Piece Suit (streaming) at YouTube
Althea and Donna - Uptown Top Ranking b/w Calico Suit mp3 at Internet Archive Original 1977 Joe Gibbs Record Globe 7" Version

BUT WHEN THEY DO

Well my opinion of Jay Z and Beyonce just went up a couple notches. Yeah, I'm sure they're talented and all that, they seem to be from the clips I've seen. Just not my bag. But that's not why they gained a little over here. It's because the commercial for their upcoming tour together doesn't feature their music, but Marcia Aitkem's cover of "I'm Still In Love With You". Nice selection, not sure what the connection might be though. Is it some sort of kiss and make up tour? Who the fuck cares. Good song choice.

 

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Listen:
Alton Ellis - I'm Still In Love With You mp3 at Stop Okay Go The original
Marcia Aitken - I'm Still In Love With You (streaming) at YouTube Cover
Althea and Donna - Uptown Top Ranking (streaming) at YouTube Same riddim
Trinity - Three Piece Suit (streaming) at YouTube DJ version over Aitken's version

TRINITY? WHERE'S THE OTHER TWO?

It's not every day that you run into a beat up Trinity 45, so here you go. Trinity is the guy who did "Three Piece Suit" which was one of the first songs (of many) to reuse the riddim from Alton Ellis's "I'm Still In Love With You". This one "Dryland Tourist" and it's accompanying version is just beat up enough to remind you it's vinyl, Jamaican vinyl at that, which can be a little dirty behind the ears.

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Listen:
Trinity - Dryland Tourist mp3 at Bass Shaka
Trinity - Dryland Tourist (Version) mp3 at Bass Shaka
Trinity - Three Piece Suit (streaming) at YouTube

ALL-TIME JAM

It's time to post, for the umpteenth time, Althea and Donna's "Uptown Top Ranking", because it's one of those righteous jams seemingly made for summer. Totally infectious reggae, it was a hit in Jamaica and England around 1977, and it began as a lark. The duo would go to reggae clubs all the time, where they often got chided for the way they dressed. Halter tops and pants aren't (or weren't at the time) connsidered roots or rasta. Phooey, they thought, and one night while driving home they heard Trinity's "Three Piece Suit " on the radio and just started singing over it, what would become "Uptown Top Ranking".



There were a bunch of other songs using the same riddim. It originated on Alton Ellis's "I'm Still In Love With You". That was followed by "Calico Suit" by Mighty Two, Trinity's "Three Piece Suit", and then "Uptown Top Ranking". There were undoubtedly others around the same time. Big Youth, for whatever reason, released an answer song with some women called the Crissers, "Spanking Ranking". It was so lame that Althea and Donna let it die. It really was lame.

I'd been thinking about posting the song, and then a new reggae mix over at Funky 16 Corners nudged me with the inclusion of the song. There's sixteen songs in all, and each one I'm sure has a story behind it. Pretty sure.

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Listen:
Althea and Donna - Uptown Top Ranking mp3 at Eyeswings
Alton Ellis - I'm Still In Love With You mp3 at Stop Okay Go
Mighty Two - Calico Suit (streaming) at YouTube
Triinity - Three Piece Suit (streaming) at YouTube
Big Youth and the Crissers - Spanking Ranking (streaming) at YouTube
The Mix:
Summer of Soul Pt2 – DJ Prestige – Nice Up: Reggae Sevens at Funky 16 Corners

MIC PASSING DIVERSION

Just ran into a post with ten good reggae DJ (toaster type) cuts, with some of my favorites. U Roy, Dillinger, Dennis Alcapone, Trinity, Big Youth and so on. You'll recognize the backing tracks (riddims), a few of them have been used a lot. Even so, it's always interesting to hear what someone else does with it. Maybe not always, but often. Check Trinity's "Three Piece Suit", the riddim of which is used in Althea and Donna's "Uptown Top Ranking". Both of those have been here before, but I don't remember if I ever posted Big Youth's "Cool Breeze" which uses the the same riddim as Scotty's "Draw Your Brakes". Always had a soft spot for that one, "Draw Your Brakes". It was the first reggae DJ song I ever heard. (Scotty pictured above.) So that was the reason I started down this road. But, man, were things about to turn weird.

I ran into a track by one Dub Gabriel, with David J from Bauhaus on bass and U Roy on the mic. Boy oh boy, ain't no U Roy I know. You know what it sounds like? It sounds like a late night jam with Berlin/Low-era Bowie, Eno, U Roy, and..., hey look over there, there's Ralf and Florian smokin' a doobie. It's kind of unsettling if you're a purist, but it is interesting to hear. I guess. They kinda paved paradise there.

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Listen:
Scotty - Draw Your Breaks mp3 at La Grand Chose
Big Youth - Cool Breeze mp3 at For the Sake of the Song
Trinity - Three Piece Suit mp3 at For the Sake of the Song
Eight more prime DJ cuts at For the Sake of the Song
Althea and Donna - Uptown Top Ranking mp3 at Clumsy and Shy
Dub Gabriel with David J and U Roy - Luv n' Liv mp3 at Music to Die For

JOE GIBBS ELECTRICAL REPAIR

Classic reggae story: Joe Gibbs, an electrical repair guy, decides to sell records in the shop as a side thing. He notices the growing success of sound systems, buys himself a two track reel to reel, and starts recording bands in the shop. He starts a label and stops fixing TVs. He releases hit after hit. This was very similar to fellow electrical egg head Coxsone Dodd's early days. And Duke Reid's start was just a variation. He was a former cop turned liquor store owner, who sold records on the side, started a label...and so on. Why hasn't there been a feature film made about this era?

Here's a few Joe Gibbs productions. Everybody raves about Culture's "Two Sevens Clash," but the synth strings at the beginning have always bugged me. They're totally unnecessary, cheesy and, worst of all, they date the song. There, I said it. The rest of his stuff, at least the relatively small percentage of his vast discography that I've heard, is solid. He gave us Marcia Aitkens' cover of Alton Ellis' "I'm Still In Love With You," the backing tracks of which were used in Trinity's "Three Piece Suit," and Althea and Donna's "Uptown Top Ranking," all three stone cold classics. (What synth strings?)

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Listen:
Marcia Aitken w/Trinity - I'm Still In Love With You mp3 at Planet Mondo (7 minute mix!)
Trinity - Three Piece Suit mp3 at 4shared.com
Althea & Donna- Uptown Top Ranking mp3 at Nate Frog
Naggo Morris & Trinity - Su Su Pon Rasta/Stop Su Su Pon the Dread mp3 at For the Sake of the Song
Dennis Brown - Money In My Pocket mp3 at 4shared.com
Marcia Aitken And Trinity - My Man/Blouse And Skirt mp3 at 4shared.com
Culture - Two Sevens Clash mp3 at Leave You Wanting Less
Three more Joe Gibbs productions at For the Sake of the Song
Visit:
Joe Gibbs at Wikipedia